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STATEMENT NO. I 

\ \ - ' r " ~ 7 - V 
Vhe^swastika 

\r EDWARD-BUTTS.^- 




i 



X 




2>0 



1908. 

Franklin Hudson Publishing Co., 

Kansas City, Mo. 



r- 



s 



Copyright, 1908, 

BY EDWARD BUTTS, 

Kansas City, Mo. 



C/. 4 2-ti-Brsr, fi^ *+. fC f° 



i. 



PRICE, POST-PAID: 
Per copy, 25 cents ; in cloth, $1.10. 



Address communications to Edward Butts, 1800 East Sixteenth St. 
Kansas City, Missouri. 



First Thousand. 




it 



THE ORIGIN OF THE SWASTIKA. 



Away back on the horizon of our records, seemingly 
a little beyond their limit, an emblem we recognize as the 
swastika came into existence. Of the past history re- 
lated to this little emblem we desire to know more; not 
because it is particularly attractive, or its construction, as 
we see it, complicated, but because it is known to have 
been in use in Europe, Africa, Asia, and America when 
we supposed there was no communication at least be- 
tween the "Old and New World." 

To our minds it appears much like a beautiful cloud 
that once floated above a setting sun, tinted with bril- 
liant colors — now scattered by the "four cardinal giants" 
here and there over the earth. 

"Where was it invented, by whom, and for what pur- 
pose?" has been a question among archaeologists, his- 
torians, and learned men we know not since when. Vari- 
ously, it has been considered a lucky charm, a religious 
emblem, a hoodoo proof, the hammer of Thor, and many 
other asserts too numerous and trivial to mention. 

The compound word swas-tika of the Sanscrit, as ap- 
plied to the swastika, signifies "come good fortune," 
and is believed to have originated with the common play- 
ing-cards with which the games of poker and whist are at 
this date played. However, it is evident that the swas- 
tika figure is only emblematic of what it originally was, 
from the fact that it must have been a more useful device 



and of very necessary application to have forced itself 
into the needs of so many widely distributed localities, 
where its remains are found in prehistoric graves and 
among relics within the remote area of neolithic people. 

Among the Aryans, where our attention is most fre- 
quently called, its ancient title is a thing of the past. 
Not even the legends of that once illustrious nation re- 
flect enough light to determine its entire original form or 
use; hence, to other sources we must go, and seek the 
desired information in other nations, and gather up the 
odds and ends — reassemble, if possible, the scattered frag- 
ments into a perfect, systematic, and intelligent whole, as 
no doubt it once existed. 

Thus in the mass of wreckage we occasionally find a 
statement that approaches as close to facts as could be 
expected of a tradition after running through perhaps 
several hundred generations of various national attain- 
ments, fragmentary records, and linguistic ability. 

Accordingly, "The emblem of the sun in motion, a 
wheel with spokes, was actually replaced by what we now 
call the swastika." — Max Muller. 

Writing of Thibet: "Invariably there will be found 
outside a house four things, among them the white and 
blue swastika, surmounted by a rudely drawn symbol of 
the sun and moon." — Perceval Landon. 

"A Buddhist priest of the Tang dynasty, in writing 
on the original Buddha, describes him as having the swas- 
tika mark on his breast; and another writer of the same 
dynasty records a practice among the people of Loh-yang 
to endeavor, on the seventh of the seventh month of each 
year, to obtain spiders to weave the swastika on their 
web." — Tang Tu, Chinese Minister to the United States. 

From George Rawlinson's "Seven Great Monarchies" 



10 



we learn, by referring to Chaldea, also Persia, that San 
was the sun-god, which he compares to our word sun. 
"In some places he is called 'the lord of fire,' 'the ruler 
of the day,' 'he who illumines the expanse of heaven and 
earth.' This sun-god is known by the symbol (~) or £ft 
The moon-god is known by the symbol £P)-" 




Fig 2, 

Fig. I is a copy of an illustration in George Stevens' 
" Handbook of Old Northern Runic Monuments." The 
stone it represents was found in Denmark about the 
close of the seventeenth century. The swastika is men- 
tioned as the mark of Woden, with assigned date 
A. D. 800-900. 

Fig. 2 is a sketch taken from a work entitled "Ilios, 
the City and Country of the Trojans," by Henry Schlie- 
mann. It shows the decoration on a vase-cover un- 
earthed in exploring the site of ancient Troy. The time 
intervening between the Trojan vase and the Denmark 
etching places an important, it would seem emblematic, 
use of the swastika at not less than two thousand years. 

11 



Fig. 3 is also from "Uios," by Henry Schliemann. 
It is said to be a picture of a conical spindle-whorl ex- 
cavated from a depth of thirteen and one-half feet. The 
reader, it is inferred, will shortly be able to grasp the 
meaning of the incised work without farther reference. 




Fig 3. 

"Considered finally, it may be asked if the fylfot or 
gammadion was an early symbol of the sun, or, if only an 
emblem of the solar revolutions or movements across the 
heavens, why it was drawn square rather than curved ? 
The (-[£, even if used in a solar sense, must have im- 
plied more than or something distinct from the sun, 
whose proper and almost universal symbol was the cir- 
cle. It was evidently more connected with the cross -f- 
than with the circle Q or solar disk." — R. P. Gregg, in 
" Archceologia" XLVIII. 

"The writers of that time affirm that at this epoch 
the calendar of the Europeans coincided within a few 
days with the Aztec calendar; and the accurate calcula- 
tion of the eclipses of the sun marked in the Mexican an- 
nals even render it probable that the difference observed 
between the two calendars proceeded wholly from our 
own not having yet undergone the Gregorian reform. 

"At the beginning of the sixteenth century, as we have 
before observed, the dates of the Aztec calendar were 



12 



more accordant with the days of the solstices and equinoxes 
than those of the Spanish calendar. 

'The names of the months are sometimes chosen 
among the lunar mansions, as with the Hindoos; at other 
times they are those of the dodecatemorions, as in the 
Dionysian year. On the banks of the Ganges they still 
say the months Arrow, House, or Head of the Antelope." 
— Alexander von Humboldt, in "Researches Concerning 
the Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabit- 
ants of America." 

Extracts relative to the subject from scientific and his- 
torical writings could be increased to a vast number, but 
enough, it is presumed, has been considered to establish 
the assertion that there was and always has been an asso- 
ciation between the swastika and the sun and moon; 
that in localities its original identity has been to some ex- 
tent retained through an expanse of time and reasonably 
asserted disuse of perhaps three thousand years. 

We are informed by the writings of Moses that men 
who first inhabited the earth lived to be nine hundred 
years of age, which statement is correct, no doubt, but 
it bears out the inevitable conclusion that an error has 
been made in transmitting events which took place among 
the inhabitants of the earth who lived several thousand 
years before Moses and the inauguration of the calendar 
system according to which he was writing, or the trans- 
lators have misconstrued his work in the application of a 
foreign tongue. The problem which they had to deal 
with was the difference between a result of ancient data 
and a result of recent data with the same word applied 
to both results. In our version the reader is guided by 
the former. 

If the records of Moses are inspired or of a spiritual 

13 



character, the conclusion must be the same, for the reason 
that a thing may live in the past or in a spiritual way, as 
it were, and no inspiration can alter, change, or transform 
its spiritual existence from what it was into something 
else — in other words, a translation of the meaning of any 
language from one to another is regarded as a mechanical 
process, largely of an exterior influence. Taking the en- 
tire subject materially as presented, it is considered very 
good evidence of the inspiration of Moses and the exist- 
ence of a system of recording time among ancient people 
that has become extinct, so to speak, and therefore has 
not been interpreted by the translators of the past three 
thousand years, with possibly Moses included, conform- 
ing with the presented statement. 

Whether or not the calendar system referred to was 
in any way related to the swastika remains an unsettled 
question, but that the swastika was, in its entire original 
form, a calendar, we propose to leave little doubt. This 
assertion, strange as it may appear, could not be verified 
without the aid of the "calendar wheel" that was still in 
use in Mexico at the time of the Cortez invasion. 

In order to assure the reader that some of our future 
reasoning is based on the best scientific authority, it will 
be necessary to make a few extracts from native authors, 
who have had the subject under consideration, as the 
correct method of using the calendar wheel has again, 
strange as it may appear, been lost on the American side 
of the Ocean, with scarcely a generation between the in- 
vasion and historical records. 

"The swastika is considered to be a form of the cross. 
There may have been no evolution or relationship be- 
tween them; but no person is competent to decide from 
a mere inspection or by reason of dissimilarity that there 



was not. We have to plead ignoramus as to the growth 
and evolution of both cross and swastika, because the 
origin of both is lost in antiquity." — Thomas Wilson, 
Smithsonian Report for 1894. 

"Fig. 4 represents a swastika made of thin ham- 
mered copper. It was found associated with a number 



Fig. 4. 

of artistically executed copper plates excavated from a 
pre-historic tomb in Ohio." — Smithsonian Report for 
1894. 

Relative to the Aztecs: "The years in a given cycle 
were designated as among the Mayas, by means of the 



15 



numeral. The signs were a rabbit, a cane, a flint, a 
house." — Valentini. 

"They throw the year into great cycles of fifty-two 
each, which they call sheaves or bundles." — Prescott, in 
"The Conquest of Mexico." 

"To enable them to specify any particular year, they 
divided the great cycle into smaller cycles or indictions 
of thirteen each. They then adopted two periodical 
series of signs, one consisting of their numerical dots up 
to thirteen, the other of four hieroglyphics of the year." 
— Prescott, in " The Conquest of Mexico." 

"The division of the year into four seasons — a di- 
vision as devoid of foundation in nature as that of the 
ancient Aryans into three — and unknown among many 
tribes, yet obtained in very early times among Algonkins, 
Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Muyacas, Aztecs, Peruvi- 
ans, and Araucanians. They were supposed to be pro- 
duced by the unending struggle and varying fortunes of 
the four aerial giants who rule the wind." — Brinton. 

" By the contrivances of these terms of thirteen days 
and the cycle of fifty-two years they formed a luni-solar 
period, most exact for astronomical purposes." — Leon 
Y. Gama. 

"Thus every year had its appropriate symbol, by 
which it was at once recognized; and this symbol, pre- 
ceded by the proper number of 'bundles,' indicating the 
half-centuries, showed the precise time which had elapsed 
since the national epoch of 1091. The ingenious con- 
trivance of a periodical series in place of the cumbrous 
system of hieroglyphical notation is not peculiar to the 
Aztecs and is to be found among various peoples on the 
Asiatic continent — the same in principle, though varying 
materially in arrangement. 

16 



"The solar calendar above described might have an- 
swered all the purposes of the nation, but the priests 
chose to construct another for themselves. This was 
called a 'lunar reckoning,' though" nowise accommodated 
to the revolutions of the moon. It was formed also of 
two periodical series, one of them consisting of thirteen 
numerical signs or dots, the other of the twenty hiero- 
glyphics of the day. But as the product of these combina- 
tions would only be 260, and as some confusion might 
arise from the repetition of the same terms for the re- 
maining 105 days of the year, they invented a third series, 
consisting of nine additional hieroglyphics, which, alter- 
nating with the two preceding series, rendered it impos- 
sible that the three should coincide twice in the same 
year, or indeed in less than 2,340 days, since 20 x 13 X 9 
equals 2,340. Thirteen was a mystic number, of fre- 
quent use in their tables. Why they resorted to that 
of nine on this occasion is not so clear." 

The above extract is from the "History of the Con- 
quest of Mexico," by W. H. Prescott; a foot-note to it in 
the same history follows: 

"In this calendar the months of the tropical year 
were distributed into cycles of thirteen days, which, be- 
ing repeated twenty times — the number of days in a 
solar month — completed the lunar or astrological year of 
260 days, when the reckoning began again. 'By the con- 
trivance of these trecenas (terms of thirteen days) and 
the cycle of fifty-two years,' says Gama, 'they formed a 
luni-solar period, most exact for astronomical purposes.' 
He adds that these trecenas were suggested by the periods 
in which the moon is visible before and after conjunction. 
It seems hardly possible that a people capable of con- 
structing a calendar so accurately on the true principles 

17 



of solar time should so grossly err as to suppose that in 
this reckoning they really 'represented the daily revolu- 
tions of the moon.' 'The whole Eastern world,' says the 
learned Niebuhr, 'has followed the moon in its calendar; 
the free scientific division of a vast portion of time is pe- 




n B 5. 

culiar to the West. Connected with the West is that 
primeval extinct world which we call the New.' " 

Fig. 5 represents a "calendar wheel" such as was in 
use by the Aztecs in the fourteenth century. This form 
of "wheel" is illustrated in Clavigero's "Ancient History 



iS 



of Mexico"; its similarity in outline to the swastika is 
easily recognized. 

It may be well to state here that there were several 
forms of the wheel, some of which made complete circles 
without the usual cross in the center; some applied ex- 
clusively to the sun, others to the moon only; but all 
were developed, as far as the writer's exerience is con- 
cerned, from the one general or fundamental principle. 

William H. Prescott was born in Massachusetts in the 
year 1796. He is the author of "History of Ferdinand 
and Isabella," "History of the Conquest of Mexico,' 
"History of the Conquest of Peru," and a partial "His- 
tory of the Reign of Philip II. of Spain." He died in 1859. 

Antonio de Leon y Gama was born in Mexico about 
the year 1735 and died about the year 1800. He was 
prominent as an astronomer, and wrote memoirs on 
"The Satellites of Jupiter," on "The Almanac and Chro- 
nology of the Ancient Mexicans," and on "The Climate 
of New Spain." 

Francisco S. Clavigero was born in Mexico about the 
year 1720 and died in 1793. During his life he served 
nearly thirty years as a Jesuit missionary among the Mex- 
ican Indians; from notes and information gathered while 
acting in that capacity he wrote the "Ancient History 
of Mexico." 

To the variations made by the priests, who had by 
appointment entire charge of manipulating the calendar 
wheel, is due the discrepancy in opinions of writers who 
have alluded to the astronomical knowledge of the Az- 
tecs, excepting in this remark Humboldt, who devoted 
his writings relative to "The Mexican Calendar" to the 
Montezuma Stone, or what is commonly called the Mex- 
ican Calendar Stone — a stone simply intended to adjust 

19 



chronologically the festivals and sacrificial rites of the 
people. Nevertheless, he found "the Mexican calendar 
one of the most complicated, but also one of the most in- 
genious, to be found in the history of astronomy." 

Referring to Fig. 5, the circle is divided into four quar- 



I / / 

1 1 L 



\ 



* 



'X 



\ 



» 



's 



5\ 

J L > 



/ 



■f- 



: I- 



i- 



I. 



A 



t 



\ 



^^_ 



\ 



\ \ 
\ \ 
\ 



/ 0< 



Fig. 6. 

ters, each indicating a season of ninety-one days. It will 
be observed later that to correctly operate the wheel it 
was necessary to have the four divisions of the year, 
which perhaps otherwise would have consisted of two, 
terminating at the solsticial points. These four seasons, 



20 



which correspond to our winter, spring, summer, and 
autumn, are represented by the four rectangular arms of 
the swastika. In the wheel, it will be noted, the four 
arms are divided into thirteen squares, each of which 
contains a dot or dots, according to its number and loca- 
tion, extending from one to thirteen, inclusive. These 
dots were placed in the wheel consecutively, along the 
spiral line, as shown in Fig. 6, repeating from one to 
thirteen four times. In this way each year in the Aztec 
century was recorded, making a total of fifty-two, cov- 
ering all the numbered squares in the wheel. 

At the end of the arms along the circumference of the 
wheel is an opening or disconnecting space, which is 
similar to the open spaces at the outer ends of the arms 
of the swastika. These spaces serve as a guide, showing 
the direction to proceed in making the daily count. As 
the wheel may be constructed with a left or a right revolu- 
tion and like results obtained, the example of the wheel 
figured is called a right revolving wheel, the same as the 
swastika on the vase-cover from Troy. The openings 
above mentioned, at the end of the arms, are not an in- 
dispensable necessity, as the signs in each quadrant may 
be used for this purpose. Hence the swastika is some- 
times figured as a circle, or a circle with bisecting lines 
dividing it into four equal parts. 

Let us now proceed to explain the progress of the 
seasons through the quadrants. Each of the thirteen 
squares in the quadrants of the wheel contains a figure 
symbolic of the season it represents; these are a cane, a 
rabbit, a house, and a flint; they indicate the sun move- 
ment through each respectively, while the dots in each 
square refer only to the relative position of the moon. 

Notice the four aerial giants, "who rule the winds," 



21 



adjacent to the four quadrants. Seven blasts each blows 
from his mouth towards the season he is presumed to 
govern. These seven lines which issue from the mouth 
of the giants mean that each of the thirteen squares or 
daily representatives in each quadrant are to be counted 
over in a circular manner seven times, making ninety- 
one in each quarter, or a total of 364 days in the wheel. 
The 365th or 366th, as the case may be, were accounted 
for as holidays at the latter end of the year. However 
this last remark may apply, we learn from Prescott's his- 
tory that the terminal adjustments of the Aztecs "brought 
them within an almost inappreciable fraction to the exact 
length of the tropical year as established by the most ac- 
curate observations." It is astonishing for us to find a 
calendar among these people, showing as it does many, 
many years of scientific observations to make such a 
minute pefection. 

With all primitive tribes of the human race the daily 
changes produced by the sun constituted the first method 
used as a reference applied to the past or between events. 
This was followed by a moon record, and each lunation 
was taken to express a period equal to the number of 
days each additional lunation contained. Otherwise, if an 
occurrence was alluded to that happened 295 days pre- 
vious, it would be stated to have happened "ten moons 
ago," or "there have been ten moons since." 

The full moon marked these periods or divisions, and 
with much interest the time of the fullness of the moon 
was looked forward to, as it did by its light relieve some 
of the dangers attending their crude mode of living, as 
well as giving other serviceable results. 

This reference to and use of the moon as a basis of a 
calendar system was superseded by the introduction of 



22 



the annual sun period, consisting of 365J days, which is 
still in use, retaining the old division of quarters or sea- 
sons, and adding twelve divisions +0 the annual revo- 
lution of the sun, now called months, starting the count 
apparently at any haphazard place. 

How the division of thirteen by twenty-eight escaped 
mav be due to the moon making a majority of twelve 
revolutions annually instead of thirteen. However, a 
great mistake was made in the arrangement, which we 
are perpetuating at a sacrifice of a much more convenient 
way of handling the question. Had they adopted the 
thirteen-month system with twenty-eight days in each, 
intercalating at the end of the year any irregularities 
that may be necessary, we would now be using a calendar 
system that would be easily retained or called to mind, 
as each Sunday would come on the same date in all the 
months, and all holidays would occur on the same day of 
the week and the same date of the month in all years. 

We must accept certain squares in the wheel on which 
to begin each quarter or season of the year. The column 
in which these squares are located is the same as that on 
which the year starts that is in progress. For illustra- 
tion, we select from the vertical column above the center 
as follows: the first season, as indicated by five dots; the 
second season, as indicated by nine dots; the third season, 
as indicated by thirteen dots; and the last season of the 
year, as indicated by the top square, containing four dots. 
Each of these indicators is to be used for the first day 
in each quarter, respectively, turning in the direction 
made known by the outer portion of the arms in the wheel. 

Then start the first season of the year, as above, with 
the first full moon on the square containing five dots, 
which consider equals naught, and proceed along the 

23 













m 

• 
• 




/ 


• 

• • • 


• 

• 
• • 






• « • 


... 


1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 
1 
/ 
/ 

s 


• 
* 




• • ••• 




1 
1 


*i 


i 
•• 




• 

: i 




1 

| 




\ 




• 





24 



broken line as shown in Fig. 7, in the direction of the 
arrow, counting each square passed over as a day, re- 
peating the circle seven times, including a total of ninety- 
one squares. It will be noted by this process that the 
thirtieth day falls on the square containing two dots, 
thus indicating the occurrence of the second full moon of 
the first season, and the fifty-ninth day falls on the square 
containing three dots, indicating that the third full moon 
of the season occurs on that day. Continuing the count 
with similar action, the eighty-eighth day falls on the 
square containing four dots, indicating the fourth full 
moon of the season on that day. Passing this last full- 
moon point with the count of squares to ninety-one, it 
is found that the moon is two days old on the last day of 
the first season. 

It is essential to know the moon's age at the end of 
the seasons or quarters to correctly operate the wheel. 
As this time is continuous in the lunar calendar under 
consideration, and although this age of the moon is a 
factor to be used in the beginning of each quarter, it is 
just as essential to extend the count of the squares or 
days to include ninety-one in each quarter. 

Accordingly, the second season is started with the 
moon-age of three days on the square containing nine 
dots; then, treating the revolutions similar to those of the 
first season, it will be found that the fifth full moon of 
the year occurs on the thirtieth day of the second season, 
and the sixth full moon of the year on the fifty-ninth day 
of the season, and the seventh full moon of the year on 
the eighty-eighth day of the season. Also on the ninety- 
first or last day of the second season the daily count ex- 
tends five beyond the full-moon point. Therefore, start 
the third season with the moon six days old on the square 

25 



containing thirteen dots, and proceed as above explained. 
It will be found that the eighth full moon of the year oc- 
curs on the thirtieth day of the third season, and the ninth 
full moon of the year on the fifty-ninth day of the season, 
and the tenth full moon of the year on the eighty-eighth 
day of the season. Continuing the record to the ninety- 
first day, the moon's age is found to be eight days, thus 
obliging us, according to the index, to commence the last 
season of the year with the moon nine days old on the 
square containing four dots. 

Treating the fourth season or last quarter of the wheel 
according to the explanations relating to the preceding 
quarters, it demonstrates the eleventh full moon of the 
year occurs on the thirtieth day of the fourth season, and 
the twelfth full moon of the year on the fifty-ninth day of 
the season, and the thirteenth full moon of the year on 
the eighty-eighth day of the season. The maximum moon 
orbits in any year is thirteen, all of which the preceding 
explanations have included. 

A tabulated construction of the recurrence of the full 
moon during the year according to the Aztec calendar 
and the hitherto described method of using it is as follows, 
beginning with the first full moon one day old on the 
second day of the first quarter: 



26 



2d full moon on tr 


le 30th day of the 


Cane quarter 


3 d « < 






* ^,-h « a « 


tt 1 




4th " 






« 88th « " " 


« < 




5th " « 






t ^Qth « « « 


Rabbit ' 




6th " < 






' 59th " " " 


<< < 




7th " 






< 88th " " « 


<< < 




8th " < 






« 30th " " " 


House ' 




9th " 






1 59th " " " 


(< < 




ioth " ' 






1 88th " " " 


<« < 




nth " 






t 30t j 1 « « c< 


Flint ' 




1 2th " 






' 59th " " " 


ti < 




13th « < 






< 88th " " " 


<« < 





27 



GEE 
® 


1 


© 








13 
9 
5 
» 

10 
6 
Z 
II 


@\nB 


10 6 2 


II 7 3 12 8 


4 










13 

9 

5 

1 


@Ei] 




5 


1 10 6 2 




4 8 12 3 


7 


®E23 


(MD® 


9 
13 
4 
8 
\Z 
3 
X 
II 




3 
7 
II 

2 








HE]® 


6 


10 1 


1 5 9 1314 8 J2 


nm® 




1 


nu 


® 




© 

HotJ 



Fig. 8. 



Referring to Fig. 8, which a comparison will show to 
be a calendar wheel with figures, for simplicity, placed in 
the divisions instead of dots, it will be found to graphically 
follow the tabulated statement of the moon, thus making 
a simple lunar calendar. 

In the ancient system the moon was the predom- 
inating influence, and all irregularities or intercalations 
necessary were installed to make the revolutionary time o ' 

29 



the sun conform to that of the moon. Eventually, when 
that system was reversed and the sun period mentioned 
was adopted, the utility of the swastika system naturally 
went into disuse in what we recognize as the Eastern 
part of the world. 

Referring again to Fig. 8, it will now be in order to take 
up the question of both sun and moon time, as they are 
combined in the use of the wheel; and as we are about 
to give the subject a more annual consideration than was 
given in the explanations relative to the lunar calendar, 
it will be apparent to the reader that we are progressing 
along evolutionary lines. Hence, it will be found unnec- 
essary to ascertain the moon's age at the end of each 
season in the following luni-solar arrangement. 

It is accepted in this explantion that ninety-one days 
constitute each season or quarter of the wheel; also seven 
revolutions are made in each quarter, as explained, rela- 
tive to the lunar calendar, and also the four outer squares 
of a radial line of same are used to start each season of a 
year, beginning with the inner square as the first and pro- 
gressing outward to the last in the vertical or horizontal 
line, as the case may be. 

The squares in these radial lines form the cross in the 
swastika and are the annual index columns of the wheel, 
as the first day of each season is indicated progressively, 
as explained above, for the year on which the first day 
falls accordingly. At the outer end of each index the di- 
visions of the wheel make right angles to right or left, 
forming the circumference of the wheel or the straight 
exterior part of the-swastika arms, the angle being made 
to readily distinguish the index squares from those in the 
balance of the wheel. The reader will note to this fact 
the peculiar form of the swastika is attributed. 

30 



In these indexes is introduced the Greek cross — the 
dawn, as it were, of history and inscribed records. It 
represented a period of time, as did the various parts and 
entire swastika, including the Greek fret, but finally it 
was accepted to represent the universal law of God. 

That the cross as an emblem came to exist from a 
more important source than the mere laying or fastening 
of two sticks together is evidenced by the many who have 
written or otherwise discussed the subject, and that the 
cross and swastika were associated in ancient times is 
also conclusive; but instead of the swastika being a de- 
velopment of the cross, the generally accepted theory, 
based on a simple and natural process, the evidence very 
strongly favors the emblem following the swastika. 

Referring again to Fig. 8 for the application of the 
sun and moon revolutionary movements to the wheel, 
begin the first day of the first season on square No. 5 in 
the index column immediately above the center of the 
wheel and proceed uniformly, as explained relative to 
Fig. 7, to the ninety-first or last day of the season. Begin 
the second season with the ninety-second day of the year 
on square No. 9 in the upper right quarter of the wheel, 
and proceed as with the first season to the i82d day of 
the year, or last day of the second season. Begin the 
third season on square No. 13 in the lower right quarter 
of the wheel with the 183d day of the year, and proceed 
in same manner as with other seasons to the 273d day 
of the year, the last of the third season. Begin the fourth 
season on square No. 4 in the lower left quarter of the 
wheel with the 274th day of the year, and proceed as be- 
fore to the 364th day of the year, or last day of the last 
season, accordingly. 

The result of these proceedings, starting with the first 

3i 



full moon in its first day, on the second day of the'Cane, 
considering the mean lunation of each twenty-nine days, 
twelve hours, forty-four minutes, two and seven-tenths 
seconds long, is the following tabulated comparison, 
giving the number of full moons and the sun days on 
which they occur, also the dates on which they occur 
according to the calendar wheel, with proper dates in 
the seasons of same: 



32 






h list Tear. 



Moons. 


Total Days by Sun. 


Total Days 
by A\ heel. 


Season Dates by 
Wheel. 


I 


id oh om 


2d 


2d day of Cane. 


2 


29<i I2h 44m 


3id 


31st " ' 


< n 


3 


59<i ih 28m 


6od 


60th " ' 


< << 


4 


88d I4h 12m 


8 9 d 


89th " ' 


< u 


5 


u8d 2h 56m 


1 19c! 


28th " * 


1 Rabbit. 


6 


i4jd i5h 40m 


i 4 8d 


57th " ' 


< <« 


7 


17/d 4h 24m 


i77d 


86th " « 


« tt 


8 


2o6d I7h 8m 


207d 


25th " * 


' House. 


9 


236d 51152m 


236d 


54th " < 


< << 


IO 


263d i8h 36m 


263d 


83d « < 


< tt 


ii 


293d 7h 20m 


293d 


22d " ' 


' Flint. 


12 


324d 2oh 4m 


32 4 d 


5lSt " ' 


« tt 


13 


35 + d 8h49m 


353^ 


80th " « 


t << 





Second Tear. 




1 


383d 2lh 33m | 38 4 d | 


19th day of Rabbit. 


Third Tear. 


1 


738d o6h 22m 739d 


9th day of House. 



33 





Fig. 9. Fig. 10. 

The table has been extended to the second and' third 
years for the purpose of farther illustrating the use of 
the index columns and to show the precision of their 
application. 

It will now be in order to make an apparent deviation 
and explain the relation between the triskelion and the 
swastika. 

The triskelion is a figure that gives the mind an im- 
pression of motion similar to the swastika. It has arms 
or lines extending from a central or radial point some- 
what like the four composing the swastika, except one 
has been omitted, leaving but three in the figure we are 
now dealing with. 

The triskelion and swastika are frequently found to- 
gether, being practically equal in their very remarka- 
ble distribution. In the East the triskelion has an or- 
dinary volutional form; in addition it has been given 
quite an extensive imaginative range in its construction 
or evolution, as we find it in ancient Sicily represented 
with three feet and legs joined together and bent at the 
knee as in running or walking to the left; still remaining 
the armorial representative of the Isle of Man, of which 
Fig. 9 is a cut. 

In Lycia we find three rooster heads with necks joined 
together in like manner, pointing their beaks to the right. 



34 



In Ireland we have (Fig. 10) a very artistic scroll adop- 
tion on bronze with the terminal volutions to the right. 
Referring to Fig. i, the stone found in Denmark has a 
combination of three huntsman's horns carved on its 
surface. 

As to what the triskelion has been 
a great number of years and is still 
considered is appropriately given in 
the following extract from a paper 
by Thomas Wilson, Curator, Depart- 
ment of Prehistoric Anthropology, 
United States National Museum, in 
Smithsonian Report for 1894: "Pliny 
attributes the origin of the triskelion 
of Sicily to the triangular form of 
the island, ancient Trinacria, which 
consisted of three large capes equi- 
listant from each other, pointing in 
their respective directions, the names 
of which were Pelorus, Pachynus, and 
Lilybaeum. This statement, dating 
to so early a period, accounting for 
the triskelion emblem of Sicily, is 
much more reasonable and ought to 
receive greater credit than that of its 
devolution from the swastika, which 
theory is of later date and has none 
of these corroborations in its favor. 
Whenever or however the triskelion 
occurred, by whom it was invented, 
what it represented, how it comes to have been per- 
petuated, is all lost in antiquity and may never be known; 




Fig. 11. 



3.5 



but there does not seem to be any reason for believ- 
ing it to have been an evolution from the swastika." 

For comparison Fig. u is inserted. It represents an 
iron spear-head found in northern Germany. The il- 
lustration is taken from a publication by J. B. Waring, 
entitled "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages." 

Fig. 12 is an outline sketch of a carved shell from a 
grave in Tennessee. Presumably, it once had colored 
figures on its surface, which, on account of exposure, 
have disappeared. The carved shell is evidently in- 




rig 12. 

tended to cover a repetition of ninety-one days or one- 
quarter of a year of a calendar wheel. There are thirteen 
outside inclosures and seven circles in a separate interior 
area; also there are four complete circular lines outside 
the spirals. By revolving on the outside inclosures, count- 
ing a day for each, seven times, we obtain the ninety-one 
days of a season, and this amount repeated four times 
gives us 364, the annual number of wheel days. 

36 



By a little investigation the reader will find that the 
swastika calendar system can be worked in its entirety 
with this form of the triskelion, but much more is depend- 
ent on the memory than in the use of the former, as the 
index columns are practically lost, each season being 
started on the same day on which the same ends; also the 
names of the days in each season are, at least in part, a 
matter of memory. 

The natural inference is that the triskelion antedates 
the swastika, as its invention is not so complete or com- 
prehensive in its application. However, it is not essen- 
tial at this time to investigate that branch of the subject. 

Why the triskelion and swastika came to be two 
separate affairs the following will serve to explain: 

It will be noted, in referring to a previous page, that 
only three index columns of the four contained in the 
calendar wheel have been considered. If we continued a 
consecutive revolution of these columns, and used the 
fourth in the wheel to guide us through the season of the 
fourth year, there would be such a discrepancy between 
wheel time and sun time that the wheel could not be used 
with the same benefit as demonstrated in the three pre- 
vious years; therefore, it becomes necessary to make use 
of but three of the index columns in passing over four 
years with the wheel, consequently we skip the fourth 
column and use the same that was used for the first year. 
Then starting with the first day of the fourth year, which 
is the 1096th from beginning, on the square containing 
five in the column immediately above the center of the 
wheel, and proceeding in the same manner as with the 
first year, we find the first full moon of the fourth year 
occurs, according to the wheel, on the H22d day from 



37 



beginning, the same by mean lunations being 1122 days, 
3 hours, 53 minutes, 42 6-10 seconds. 

There is perhaps no relic at this date that goes farther 
to verify what has herein been written in regard to the 
swastika and calendar wheel than the common playing- 
cards in use at this time, laid on a table in the form of 
Fig. 8. We have the veritable swastika bundle of an- 
cient times. Whence they came is a disputed question, 
but we again look to the Aryans, where certainly the 
name originated. 

In the pack of cards there are four denominations — 
clubs, hearts, diamonds, and spades; these in the cal- 
endar wheel are cane, rabbit, house, and flint. With 
both cards and wheel each is associated with thirteen 
divisions. The club and cane are very similar in appear- 
ance; they are intended to represent the foliage of a tree 
or plant; it is believed their outlines are enough alike to 
signify they came from the same source. The rabbit of 
the wheel has been changed to heart in the cards, which 
was perhaps a benefit to the business for which they have 
been recently used. However that may be, among the 
early Oriental astronomers the hare was an important 
factor, whose influence we recognize at this date in the 
constellation of the Hare. The diamond and house are 
four-sided figures, the house being distorted to a rhom- 
busial form in the cards; but both, most likely, represent 
the "lunar houses" in the astronomy of ancient Asia. 
Evidently there can be no mistake as to the origin of the 
spade and flint; one is the outline of a flint arrowhead 
and the other the same of a flint knife. 

The pack of cards is made up of four parts consisting 
of thirteen in each, or a total number of fifty-two, all of 
which has been said of the wheel. Fifty-two repeated 

38 






seven times made the year of 364 days with one addi- 
tional at the end to comply with the sun period, but not 
included in the calendar wheel or card pack; and as this 
day had neither number nor date, no records could be 
made or legitimate business done; it was appropriately 
regarded as a day of rest. With the cards there appears 
to have, at a very early time, existed a fifty-two-day 
period, sheaf, or bundle for making records, and seven 
of these "bundles" or "periods" constituted a year with 
a day of rest, not included, at the end. More recently 
we find this method practically reversed, giving us what 
we now have: fifty-two weeks, consisting of seven days 
each, with a day of rest included at the end. 



39 



CONTENTS. 

Calendar — Aztec Comparison 12 

" Aztec by Prescott 17 

" Criticisms on 23 

" Progression of 22 

" Stone 19 

" Tabulated Comparison 32 

Wheel 14 

" Wheel, Explanations . . . . 21, 24-31 

" Wheel, by Clavigero 18 

" Wheel, Forms of 19 

Cards — Common Playing 38, 39 

Clavigero — Biographical Notes 19 

Cycles — 52 Years 16 

Gama — Biographical Notes 19 

Greek Cross 31 

Greek Fret 31 

Index Columns in Wheel 23 

Lunar Calendar, Tabulated 27 

Luni — Solar Calendar 16 

Lunations — Length of 32 

Lunations of Moon 22 

Moses — Writings of 13, 14 

Prescott — Biographical Notes 19 

Seasons — Names of 13, 16, 21 

Swastika — Distribution of 9 

— Definition of 9 

— Form of 21, 30 

— In Ancient Troy 11, 12 

— In China 10 

— In Chaldea and Persia 11 

— In Denmark 11 

41 



Swastika — In Thibet 10 

" — In United States 15 

— System Abandoned 29 

Time — Aztec Division 16 

Triskelion — Comparison 37 

— Explanation of 37 

— Form and Distribution . . . . 34, 35 

— In Denmark 35 

— In Germany 36 

— In Ireland 35 

— In Isle of Man 34 

— In Lycia 34 

— In Sicily 35 

— In United States 36 



\ 



42 



NOTES, 



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